Ex-Charger takes on new position — congressman

A year ago, 6’7”, 330-pound Jon Runyan was a Chargers offensive lineman.

Today he is a congressman-elect from New Jersey.

The former Philadelphia Eagles Pro Bowler told me by phone that his local GOP chairman had approached him and he agreed to run shortly after the November 2009 elections. He said the subject never came up when he signed with the Chargers later that month to fill in for injured Jeromey Clary. “I knew it would be tough, but I wanted one more shot at a Super Bowl,” said Runyan, then 35 and recently recovered from knee surgery.

As for the difference between serving government and the gridiron, Runyan doesn’t pamper his words. “One’s a game. It’s entertainment. This is reality. It’s people’s lives. It’s our country. The intensity is ever so much more.”

The father of three dismissed the drop in pay as something that was going to happen no matter what profession he chose after football. During his 14-year NFL football career he said he concentrated on managing his money well. Now his No. 1 priority is to get Congress to do the same.

“We’re spending money our children and grandchildren don’t have. We can’t continue to dig a hole no one can get out of,” he says.

Runyan conceded that voters’ familiarity with his name probably gave him an edge at the polls, but it had its drawbacks.

“My biggest challenge was to overcome the stereotype — the “dumb jock” aspect — and let people know I could do the job.”

As for following in the NFL-cleats-to-Congress steps of Jack Kemp, Steve Largent and Heath Shuler, Runyan responds: “Those are big shoes to fill.”

People on parade: Today is a momentous occasion for Scott Silverman, founder of Second Chance, a training and employment program for San Diego’s downtrodden. After teetering on the brink of suicide several years ago, today Silverman isn’t shy about spreading the word that he’s celebrating 26 years of sobriety. “This is not to brag but to share with others that it can be done one day at a time,” says Silverman, who, in 2008, was named a “CNN Hero of the Week.” (See Sunday’s paper for a profile on Silverman.) …

David Elliott, the U-T’s former film critic, has found a new home. He just signed up as the primary movie reviewer for The Reader. His first column will appear in the next edition of in the free weekly tabloid.

Elliott, augmented by other Reader staff, takes the torch from Duncan Shepherd, who retired from his film critic’s corner after 38 years. In his farewell column this week, Shepherd noted that movies have changed and his job was no longer fun: “My romance with movies, if that’s what it was, has cooled.” His coup de grâce: “It had to end sometime. Now’s as bad a time as any.”

He donated one of his guitars, signed by band members, for auction Sunday at United Through Reading’s Storybook Ball. McCready spent much of his childhood in San Diego when his dad was a Navy pilot and even started his first band at Roosevelt Junior High School (now Roosevelt Middle School). His mother and stepfather, who live here part time, plan to attend the ball. McCready’s guitar will share the limelight with Honorary Chairman Jeff Kinney, author of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” Kinney’s fifth book in the popular series was released this week.

On Thursday, actor Dave Florek visited S.D. living rooms in a Fox TV episode of “Bones.” Tonight he’ll be here in person at a private party. Florek will read from the stage play, “Danielle’s Beacon.” He co-authored the play (about adoption) which was inspired by the life experience of San Diegan Patrick Scott, who collaborated on the project.